Tobacco manipulating machine



Mai-ch 7, 1939. w. E. MOLINS TOEBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1935 4 Sheets- Sheet 1 VENTOR wqmi a. 0 24 Arte?- 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 w. E. MoLms TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1955 March 7, 1939.

March 7, 1939. w, '5, Mom 2,149,924

TOBACCO MANI PU LATING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1935 r 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 gZ F-AMH 4? mw W6.

March 7, 1939. w, LI 2,149,924

TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I Patented 7,1939 I I 2,149,924

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TbBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINE Walter Everett Molins, Deptford, London, England; Harold Bernardo Molins and Moses Hyman Isaacs, executors of said Walter Everett Molins, deceased, assignors to Molins Machine Company Limited, London, England Application March 22, 1935, Serial No. 12,498 In.Great Britain March 23, 19:4

Claims. 7 (Cl. 131-43) This invention is for improvements in or recontinuous tobacco filler rod and of selecting lating to tobacco manipulating machines in which and controlling the mass thereof by feeding to- -a continuous filler rod is formed, such for exbacco to a position atwhich its velocity is reample, as continuous rod cigarette making maduced whilst simultaneously confining said to- 5 chines in which a continuous tobacco filler rod bacco transversely of its direction or movement 6 is severed to form it into lengths, or intobacco within a passage which has a substantially conpackaging machines in which a continuous tostant cross-section and which embraces the rebacco filler rod is formed, but in which such gion of, reduction of velocity in such manner that filler rod is ofa larger cross section than in compacting of the tobacco is brought about by 10 the case of a flllerof'a continuous rod cigarette axial compression produced by said reduction 10 making machine, and this larger filler rod is of velocity in said passage. severed into sections or lengths for subsequently According to another form of the present ininserting into packages. vention there is provided in or for a continuous Where throughout the specification and claims rod tobacco manipulating machine, apparatus for the term mass is used, it shall mean weight per forming a continuous tobacco filler rod according 16 unit length considered in the direction of moveto either of the methods set out above, said apment, and the term desired mass shall be taken paratus comprising in combination a conveyor to mean the weight, or substantially the weight device'for moving tobacco forwardly, conveyor per unit length which it is desired that the conmeans to feed tobacco in the same general di- 20 tinuous' tobacco filler rod shall have. 1 rection towards the conveyor device and at a 0 The term axial when used hereinafter shall higher velocity than the conveyor device moves be deemed to include lengthwise, and when the tobacco forwardly, and control means to conused in connection with direction refers to the trol the tobacco within predetermined limits congeneral direction of movement of the tobacco sidered transversely of its direction of movement filler rod or the tobacco stream or the tobacco at or in the region of the point at which the 26 fed to the filler rod. velocity of the tobacco changes. The said con- The expression continuous tobacco filler rod trol means may comprise a passage of substanwhen used herein and in the appended claims tially constant cross-section. The conveyor demeans a. rodlike stream of tobacco of a crossvice may co-operate with the control means to 30- section comparable with that included within a form therewith a part of a control passage and 80 wrapper (for example, the paper wrapper of a the conveyor means may comprise an endless cigarette) which is finally to contain the filler conveyor which co-operates with the control rod, which rodlike stream'is continuously moved means to form therewith a part of a control axially of itself, and the expression is not to be passage. T e velo ties of t e co y device .35 taken as limited to a'filler rod of any given and the conveyor means may be adjustable rel- 88 length or width or even to the final filler rod at y e to t e and a P at least of which is severed into sections, since the filler the control means (e. g., the top and side walls rod after being formed in accordance withthe ,of the control passage) may be stationary.

present invention may be subjected to further The apparatus for forming a continuous totreatment, which further treatment forms no bacco filler rod may be used in combination with 40 part of the present invention, nor is the exprestobacco feeding mechanism, which latter feeds sion to be taken to includea tobacco carpet which tobacco on to the said conveyor means at a sufis formed in ahopper, and then fed (e, g., picked ficient rate in relation to the velocity of the and showered) therefrom preparatory to c6m slower moving conveyor device to provide a filler mencing the formation of the filler rod. of the desired mass, and the said conveyor means 45 According to one form of the present invention moves the tobacco forwardly at a sufllciently high there is provided a method of forming a con-- velocity that the tobacco conveyed by it .(for extinuous tobacco filler red by feeding tobacco axiample, in the form of a stream) is, at substanally to a point or successive points at which, or tially all .points considered in the direction of 5 at each of which, its velocity is reduced and movement of the tobacco, below the desired mass. controlling it within predetermined limits con- One or more intermediate conveyors may be sidered transversely of its direction of movement provided between the said conveyor device and at or in the region of that point or of each point. the said conveyor means respectively to provide According to another form of the'present insuccessive reductions in the velocity of the tovention there is provided a method of forming a bacco and control means may be provided at 56 "each point where is a reduction velocity.- 'flhe present invention also provides a continfiller rod made according to the present in? v'ntlon and a cigarette nade from the said filler V e construction madein accordancewith the present invention will now bedescribed by way of'ex'an'iple, with reference to the accompanying drawingain' which:

1 is a sectional side ele ation of apparatus-for forming a continuous tobacco iiller rod.

Figure 2 is a section taken along vthe li'ne A -A- 1 Figure 1 looking in the direction indicated Figure 313 a sectlon taken along the iine B'-B of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated.

Figure 4 is an enlarged view of aportion of Figure- 1;

Figure 5 is a tic side elvation of a part of a cigarette making machine, and shows a completezarrangement of the driving mecha;

nism for'the parts concerned withthe invention.

Referringto l, tobacco'i s' 'showered or" otherwise fedj to? example, as a sliver, from a tobacco-feeding apparatus I, whichv maybe of any suitable fm'mjahd the tobaccois delivered on ,to conveyor means mill dlessmoving conveyor which travels on the bottom of a troughl: The tobacco showered or otherwise fedonio thesconveyor band- I'is"guided walls of d e trough I.

of soineparts oflflgure 6.

for.

of the machine. sid guides one also arranged, as shown; and are supported w meam of distance pieces I! secured to plates II fixed tothetrough'l. Curvedguides II arealso provided to prevent the tobacco from laterally on the conveyor IQ Thclguides II are "flxedtothebedofthemachinebysecnringthem to the distance pieces I2, the thickness of which pieces'll ave been redllced'at this point as shownin V a. I

The-guides II terminate at a point substantially below the axis of a condo roller I l.

and the guides II are made sufliciently long to keep the tobacco under control until it moves into another controlled space, suchas between the walls of a garnihlte, not shown; and under 1 the usual compressiontongue II. The compres sion roller ll. is carried on a frame I. The dis tahce of the roller above the conveyor 3 can Asthetobacoo-is carried along. "by theconveyor I, rollers'land I the tobacco and are rotatedin-a sdch thatxthat part, of the surface-obeach roller which.

engages-the tobacco moves withthe tobacco;

= W ifdesired the tobacco before reach- *ing' the conveyor I may have a canponent of I ;movement inthe'direction'of-movement of the v c s -that the downward slope isnottoosteepsoas over a Ifand is received thereafter I 0f the I r;

conveyor I. I i 'Ihetobacoo is fed axia y by the coil'veyor I r on a conveyordev'ice 3, whichfin itherexample support thepaper'web 3; tape! and webjare moved forwardly at the same speed.

- an upward extensionjl ha mfi apertures;

shownif'alling is located between the guide roller 4 end srollee 15 about which theband I rotates and the gap conveyors land). 1 a.

A controlling member, is providedabove the conveyors rand 3: The member [may be made intwo p0 ons as shown andit isprovided with r The memberl'issecm'ed'to'a frame 62 of screws nivit i istan e ece at provided between theextension-il 'lhe' Y apertures" are madelarge'r than the'g'di'ameter r the screws u'so i canbe adjusted iengthwise of the I and J,

ari-alaoverticallzfl -'rhe;mme n isivjot d at Q; Which pi t the bed beregulated owing to the fact that the frame 66 is pivotally mounted about thepivpt 8S and is clamped to the frame 02 through a slot 81 in the' frame The roller 9 is slipportedcn a spindle 9! carried on the frame 62. whole frame 82 is-capable of beingswung about the pivot I to allow awess' to the various parts.-

'- I II are non-convergent and the l 1 very slightly from the inlet to the outlet,

the various walls of a control 1 pose of which will be described later.

. 'A' stop OI is provided to support the free end of the frame 62. This supportemay be-adjustable to regulate the height of the axis-of the spindle ll. A a

Itwill beseen that I and 3 the bridge piece (2, theside guides II and II; the member 8 and theroller's I and I4 constitute the pur- In order to prevent jamming or choking of the tobacco in'the control e, the side walls a may be arranged so that its cross-sectional areaincreases it has been found that jamming sarily occur if thetop walf of the said is'sloped slightly downwards the exit.-

will not neces- .I"or,instance a divergence of 0.01 or 0.02 of inch of the walls ll hasbeen found suillclent for this purpose. This-may be done whether or not the top member. has a 'downwardslope towards the conveyor 3, and this slope may make 'xan'ymuitable angle with the conveyor 3 provided shown, is constituted bya continuous webof paper. An endless conveyor 'tape 5 is provided-to V is red over aguideroller'l; Thebrldge t m 2 all cases the tive iFdesird; no-longer be' constant. I

above the- Ifdesir'ed, arail '(notshown) maybe conveyor of the rolls} I and O ,to engage the-topofcarried thereby. 'lhe Ophowe'ver. havethe j'advantagegin which engage'r-m with thet ocoo v avoiding the conveyor I.

whole r the The operationof the time is as follows;

is-drivai 1s the main shaft I00 which is rotated by any suitable means, such,. for example, as an electric motor.- The fast moving band I is driven by a gear wheel IOI; which meshes with a pinion I02 secured to a stub shaft I03. A spiral gear I04 is secured to the stub shaft I03 and meshes with a gear wheel I05 secured to the shaft I06. The

driving pulley'for the band I is, as can be seen,

also' secured to the shaft I 06.

The slower moving conveyor 5 also receives motion from the main shaft I00. In this case there is a gear wheel I01 secured to the shaftat right-angles to the main drive shaft I00. The

spindle "H2 has secured to it a'worm gear '3, and cooperating with the worm II3 are two gears H4 and H5. The gear III is secured to a spindle IIB to which is also secured the wheel I4. Gear wheel H5 is secured to a spindle H1, and has an extended sleeve H8 on the end of which is formed .a gear wheel II 9 which cooperates with a gear wheel I20 secured to the shaft 90 to which the wheel 9 is secured. The wheel 8 is driven by means of abelt I2I which connects a pulley I22 secured to the shaft IIG with a pulley I23 secured to. the spindle I24 to which the wheel 8 is secured. I

The speed of the conveyor I can be varied by, changing the motor speed, while the speed of the conveyor 3 may be controlled by means of a change speed device of any suitable construction. 3

The driving mechanism described above is conventionaLand its details form no part of the present invention.

The conveyor I is moved at a greater velocity than the conveyor 3, which latter moves at the normal velocity in relation to the rate at which the tobacco feeding apparatus feeds tobaccogthat is to say, the speed at which the conveyor 3 moves is such that the quantity of tobacco fed by the tobacco feeding apparatus I6 is sufficient to provide a filler rod of the required mass.

. In the illustration shown in' Figure 1, the tobacco on the conveyor I is shown in the form of a stream which at substantially all points along its length is below the desired mass. The

velocity at whichthe conveyor I travels relatively to'the conveyor 3 and to the'rate of working of the tobacco feed governs the mass of, the tobacco on the conveyor I and it will be seen that the faster the conveyor I moves the less will be the mass of tobacco on the conveyor I. For instance, if the conveyor I is moved at asufliclently high speed, it. will be seen that the mass of tobacco received upon the conveyor I can be made very small. It will be appreciated that the velocity of the conveyors I and 3 respectively may be adjustable to any desired extent. 7

The tobacco shown on the conveyor I in Figure 1 is fed as a stream towards the control passage. Within the control passage there is always a point at which thereduction in velocity of the tobacco occurs, and it can be seen that at this point the tobacco impacts against the slower moving tobacco and forms it into a filler rod. The tobacco whilst in the control passage is thus packed drives the slower moving conby axial compression produced by the reduction of velocity in the passage, and the walls of the passage control the tobacco by keeping 'it within predetermined limits considered transversely of its direction of movement at or in the region of the point at which the reduction in velocity occurs.

' The filler rod is thus formed or built up and is removed from the control passage by the conveyor 3 which latter is assisted by the roller I4.

I It will be obvious that the point at which the merging or impact occurs will remain constant, it all the conditions of the apparatus and the con- .sistency of. the fast moving tobacco remain constant. If, however, the mass of tobacco fed is irregular, the impact point will move in an axial direction; for example, if the mass of tobacco v brought by the fast moving conveyor I be reduced,

the point at which the impact occurs will advance in the direction of movement of the slower moving conveyor. Conversely, if the mass of tobacco brought by the fast moving conveyor increases, the impact point willrecede, that is, movein a direction opposite that in which the slower moving conveyor is travelling, so that the packing will occur earlier. Due to this shifting of the impact point, irregularities in the tobacco fed are less in the finished filler rod when made according-to the Present invention than in a filler rod when madeby'the usual known methods, so that the present invention enables a more uniform filler rod to be formed.

It will, be seen that since the packing point varies in an axial direction, the control passage must be sufliciently long to enable the tobacco to be compacted wherever the packing point may be at'any given moment.

It will be seen, therefore, that compacting is effected in a passage which isof substantially constant cross section along its effective length, and that a continuous tobacco filler rod can be formed for a cigarette rod on a cigarette making machine havingat least a speed whereby over 32 ounces avoirdup'cis of continuous tobacco filler rod is formed per minute. In the case of av cigarette making machine, such a filler rod of over 32 ounces per minute is formed when the machine is producing 25 cigarett'es per ounce at the rate of over 800 cigarettes per minute.

Instead of making the top surfaces of the con-" veyors I and 3 in aligmnent. as shown, they may be inclined relatively to one another. For example, the conveyor I may be higher at the right hand side, looking at Figure 1. than at the point of junction between the conveyors I and 3. Al-

though in such a case the direction of movement of the tobacco has changed. it will be appreciated that the general direction of movement of the tobacco forming the filler rod has not been changed, and it will beunderstood that when describing the movement of the tobacco along the two conveyors in such'a case, the term .Instead of using the construction shown in.

Figure 1 whereby the filler rod is formed in one stage, the filler rod may be formed in stages. In

such a case the tobacco will be built up as shown in Figure 1, but there will be a further stage or stages at each of which the mass of the tobacco moving forwardly will be increased, until finally the tobacco is fed to the rear end of the filler rod. In such a case, one or more intermediate conveyor devices may be provided between the conveyor I mammary such conveyorswill have speedswhicharebetweenthespeedsofthecon ,m l and the conveyor 3 respectively, but which with the'conveyors I and l.-

What is claimed is:-

1. 1h apparatus for forming a continuous tobaceo filler rod, a first conveyor having-arelaaiaobeadjustableintheirspeedaasisthecase tieles in a stream, a second conveyor-having a rdatively smooth surface to continue the feeding oi'thestreamatalinearspeedless thanthatat which it is fed by the first conveyor, the relative speeds of said'cgnveyors being suchthat the greater'velocity of the tobaccoparticies on snaiirst-cmyeyorwillcausethesame to compacton slower moving particles, anda e through which the stream is fed, having a generally'unia substantially constant cuss-section which is wmeconnnln'gwallsot wm -tively smooth surface for feeding tobacco particlesinastream,asecondconveyorhavinga suriac'etocontinuetheteeding thestreamatalinear speedless thanthat;

whichitis ted by the first conveyor. the-rela. 'mmoi'said conveyors beingsuch thatthe flrstccnveyor will causethe sameto com: slowermoving particles, and ae whichthestreamisfedam'iinwhicha otthetobaccointheetoa oi the e,

said passage being'ot qiflicient length to extend cm and increase themass of sgl ortne pointot ot-the.

asmeaslnedaxially and agener-" .islnapparatmi'or formingacontinuousto which a at mbstantlallyall points bekw' the mass'which it is desired that the contobacco particles on said first conveyor will cause 5 the faster moving particles to compact on the slower moving particles andincrease the man ofthetobaccotothedesiredmassanda 1 through which the'stream is fed and in which a continuous tobaccoflller rodisior'med by the axial compacting of the tobacco in the tea substantially constant cross-section which is de termined by the confining walls of the e, said passage being of suflicient length to extend.

on either side of the'point of compacting of the 15,

stream as axially andhaving a generally uniform tr sectional area."

4. in apparatus-for forming a continuous bacco filler rod, ribst conveyor for. feeding tobaccoinastreamwhichis atsubstantialiyallm points of less than the desired a s cond conveyor tor'eceive the tobaccostream fed by theflrstconveyorandtocontinue'the feeding of thestreamataiess' linearspeed thanthat at which it is fed by'the first conveyor and a pas-. as. sage'through'whicli the stream is fed and in V w is'determined by theconiining w'alls'o! so the -e,- said e being of sumue'nt 'leng'thtoextendon/eithersideofthepointof compacting ot'thestream as measured axially "whereby the streamisrcompacted toincrease mass thereoftothedesired mass.

e 5. In apparatus for'fo'rming a'continuousto baccoiiller rod, aflrstconveyorhavinga'reia-- tively smooth surface -tor feeding tobacco particlu in astreamwhich-is atsulltantially all points below themass-whicli it is desired that 40 -the contlnudistobaccomllerrod shall have. a"

secondconveyormovingataiincarspeediess' velocity at thegtobacco particles on the thaxrthatoi' theflrst conveyor andhaving a relatively smooth surface, said second conveyor arranged to continue the movementotthe as a str'eamrthe relative speeds of the saidconveyors being such-that the greater ve- "locltyot the tobacco particles on said am con" ticles tq compact on the slower moving-partig thetobaccotothe desired mass-and-a passage-through which the.

'streamisied ahi'rinvrhichacoutlnuoustobacco iiller rod is formed by the axial compacting o!.

thetobaccointhetoasubstantialiyconstant on-which is determinedbi confining wallsot the plumage. 88!!! filler-rod shall-have, a second torm transverse sectional area, said conveyors 

